(LOL)
(LOL) (（笑）, (Emi)) is chapter thirteen of the Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai light novel series. It is chapter one of volume two. Summary Kodaka gave a brief introduction of himself and how he tends to be misunderstood because of his appearance. As usual, Kodaka went to the Neighbor's Club room after his school lessons had ended. Kodaka went to the chapel as usual and to Meeting Room #4. Inside said room, Kodaka saw a girl wearing a bald cap. He stopped to think for a moment. "....Sorry, I entered the wrong door." Just as Kodaka decided to pretend as if he has never seen that girl with the bald cap, the girl stopped him. Kodaka then had no choice but to return and see Sena there, asking how is the cap while blushing. After hesitating for a while, Kodaka said that it suits Sena as the latter was a little happy before being angry and said that she doesn't. "Then, what should I say ?" "It wasn't meant to be a question of whether I looked okay or not, it was to ask you if it was funny !" Kodaka then recalled what happened yesterday. Then, Yozora mentioned that to make friends, laughter is very important as the rest of the club (Sena, Kodaka and Yukimura) were surprised. Yozora then explained that she found out on the net that it was those with a sense of humor that has the best chance of having friends as Kodaka seems to agree with this. In Kodaka's previous school, there is a person like that which had plenty of friends despite not being good at athletics nor studying and that same person sits beside Kodaka. And the day Kodaka transferred, he organized a farewell party at a family restaurant (AA System). However, after Kodaka left, his only link is gone. And now that Kodaka thinks about it, that person has only called him "Hasegawa" and Kodaka wondered if he ever did become his friend. Without knowing, Kodaka begins to cry as Sena, surprised, asked what happened as Kodaka denied crying and wept away the tears he had before agreeing with Yozora. Sena then said that she cannot comprehend that someone ugly, with bad grades and bad athletics, can become popular just by being funny. In that sense, Sena said that she being someone very beautiful, is good in letters and military strategies, and can be described as "being loved by God" and if she had a great sense of humor, she'll have god-like charisma. Yozora then got grossed out by Sena's declaration and slapped Sena's nose. "~Ah! What are you doing?!" "That is a part of being funny, it's what's known as tsukkomi." "Of course I know what tsukkomi is, but I wasn't acting as the boke!" "Gross" "Ah" Sena evaded Yozora's second attack but she moved too much and accidentally hit the table. When Yozora saw that, she sarcastically told Sena that the latter sure is used to being a joke. While Sena forced a smile on her face and told them to bow down to her charisma. Yozora then called her "Residue" as Sena told Yozora that it is charisma as Yozora said that calling Sena residue is more than enough. Yukimura, however, then seemed to have thought of something and asked Kodaka that if Kodaka wished to make people laugh, he should have just said do and Yukimura will laugh no matter what the circumstances are. Kodaka then said that he doesn't force people to do things as he dropped a cold sweat after seeing that Yukimura does not seem to have understood what he said. Kodaka then thought that the Shiguchimoto series comedian, George Toriki, looks as scary as a gangster, but is still popular among everyone. Although he looks very beautiful, the musician GYACKT gives off a fearful impression that makes him hard to approach, but since he participates in a talk show to showcase his humorous side, his popularity has increased and caused his fan-base to expand from young women to a wider audience. While Kodaka was contemplating this, he started to laugh and tries to hide it in the bus full of people. And thus, back to today, Sena asked if Kodaka think it is funny for her bald cap. Kodaka then doesn't think so and asked why would Sena do that while Sena said that in the toy store, it said that "it’s guaranteed to make people burst into laughter at parties." as Kodaka cannot believe that Sena took it word for word. "Hn, even that kind of humor you can’t understand. Kodaka, you and Yozora’s sense of humor is making people unhappy." "The one who has a weird sense of humor is you, meat! As expected, being a stack of meat, it’s hard for you to understand that high-level skill." As Yozora laughed, Koodaka noticed that Yozora is wearing a blond wig Kodaka then asked why is it blond as Yozora told him to laugh while Kodaka became confused. Yozora seems to be unsatisfied with the reactions, and her facial expression returned to the same unhappy one as normal and Yozora quickly while saying some words. "I, have a lot of money, and am also a beautiful young woman." Kodaka chuckled a little but don't see the reason for the blond wig. "Haa--……you still don’t understand……so I’ll use my last resort!" Yozora then used a pen and wrote "Meat" (肉) on her forehead and Sena soon realized that Yozora is trying to intimate her. Yozora: "Hm, you finally understand, you mentally-ill meat. Okay, facing that funny existence, laugh out loud to your hearts’ content." Sena: "Why am I a funny existence?!" Yozora: "Why, am I, a funny existence." Sena: "I didn't use that manner of speech!" Yozora: "I didn't use that manner of speech! I have a lot of money, and am also a beautiful young woman." Sena: "When did I say those lines!" Yozora: "Daddy told me to say that~" Sena: "If, if it’s like this, he indeed told me that……wuuu, damn…… That, that kind of thing, would only make people angry. Why would people laugh!" Yozora: "Yeah, but when I see you angry and crying, I’m very delighted." Sena: "That’s too mean!" Kodaka: "……I don’t want to interrupt you two in that heated moment, but, Yozora, don’t you think that this costume is kinda embarrassing?" Sena and Yozora: "Eh?" Yozora looked to the mirror as Kodaka said that to a bystander, it would be bad as Yozora made her facial expression again and realized that she indeed looked bad before taking off her wig and stood there blushing for a moment before telling the others to forget about that. On the other side, Sena also took a mirror from her bag and looked at herself and after that, her face slightly moved a bit, and speechlessly took her wig off and fiercely threw it in the trash can. Kodaka then lectured them not to ruin their image just for the sake of humor as both where somehow more sad to be told off by him. Both then asked if Kodaka had anything as Kodaka laughed a little and said that he'll perform a stand-up comedy since he lived in Osaka before. "That’s great Kodaka!" "Ah?" "Because you 'have lived in Osaka' so you 'will perform stand-up comedy', to think that kind of nonsense, that’s the funny thing, isn't it? Indeed it’s a bit funny." (!) "……Actually, I didn't mean it that way……in the past, when I was living in Osaka, every afternoon at 4 o’clock, I would always watch the comedy shows in the Kansai department, this was a hobby I had. That’s why I did some research into making people laugh." "4 o’clock in the afternoon, that means if you didn't immediately rush home you couldn't watch it." "Of course I immediately went home……I didn't have friends at school……" Kodaka then gave a brief description before telling out a joke. "In the Heian period (A peaceful period in the history of Japan), there were a bunch of young people hanging together, and were talking about what they were afraid of, but in the bunch, there was a man who said ‘There isn't anything of which I’m afraid of’……let’s call him A-san. '' ''But with the others pressuring him to speak, he finally admitted ‘In fact, I’m scared of steamed buns’. By simply mentioning steamed buns he felt sick, and thus ran to the neighbor's house. And so, the remaining people, in order to scare A-san, went to buy a lot of steamed buns, and threw them in A-san’s house. As expected, they could quickly hear his miserable screams, and the young people secretly looked at the situation in the room. There, what they saw was, ‘so scary, so scary, since it’s too scary, I need to quickly eat them’, and A-san said this while happily eating the steamed buns. After realizing that they had been fooled, the young people angrily burst in and asked ‘What the heck are you actually scared of!’. Thus, A-san answered like this——" "——‘Now, I’m scared of hot coffee" Kodaka then almost burst into laughter but he was shocked to see why Yozora and Sena are looking at him with sad eyes and looked chilly. Sena then said that Kodaka's cold joke is way too cold. Kodaka then said that it's not cold and tried to reason with her as Yozora warmly interrupter him and gave him some coffee and told him that the coffee is still hot so he needs to be careful. Knowing how Yozora is, Kodaka wondered if his joke really is that bad. Kodaka then got a little shocked and angry and begin to say out his next joke; "The scary steamed dumplings." However, Yozora and Sena looked at Kodaka as if he's a pitiful insect as Kodaka angrily tried to say out the "Scary Miso Soup". However, Sena and Yozora just don't understand his jokes no matter how he tried and Kodaka became exhausted and sat at the sofa as Yozora and Sena do their own things and pretended that this never happened. Yukimura: "Sorry I’m late, Aniki, Anego…"(!) Sena: "It’s really great to escape from it." Yukimura: "Since I was studying how to make people laugh, I was a bit late. But with the knowledge gained from my studies, I learned some very funny jokes." Sena: "Oh?" Yozora: "Eh?" Yozora: "Well, we don’t have a lot of expectations, only for a change of taste, please tell us." Yukimura: "Yes, so below will venture himself." Yukimura: "Steamed buns are scary." Sena and Yozora: "I’VE ENOUGH OF IT!" Notes * Similar in execution to the concepts of "funny man" and "straight man" in double act comedy, "Boke and Tsukkomi " is the Japanese version of it. Boke (ボケ) comes from the verb bokeru (惚ける or 呆ける) which carries the meaning of "senility" or "air headed-ness" and is reflected in the book's tendency for misinterpretation and forgetfulness. The word tsukkomi (突っ込み?) refers to the role the second comedian plays in "butting in" and correcting the boke's errors. The tradition of tsukkomi and boke is often used in other Japanese comedy, although it may not be as obviously portrayed as it usually is in manzai. * The words Charisma (カリスマ: Karisuma) and Residue (残渣: Zansa) can sound similar.